Author, architecture professor Bernd Foerster dies

The Troy Record is reporting this morning the death of Bernd Foerster, who was an instructor, professor and dean at the School of Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy. Foerster joined Rensselaer in 1954 and remained until 1971. He died Monday in Manhattan, Kansas, according to The Record.

Foerster was the author of Architecture Worth Saving: Rensselaer County, N.Y. The book, published in 1965, was part of a series sponsored by the New York State Council on the Arts.

William Hull, then the council’s associate director, described it as an appraisal of buildings constructed before 1920 that should be preserved.

Foerster also appeared in a documentary film, “What Do You Tear Down Next?” that is a critique of urban renewal in New York state and the Capital Region.

Many of the buildings Foerster described in his book, including a row of brownstone residences on the east side of Fifth Avenue between Fulton and Broadway in Troy, ultimately were demolished. But the book is credited with raising awareness of the importance of the region’s older buildings.

Foerster received his master’s degree in architecture from RPI. He left in 1971 to become dean of the school of architecture at Kansas State University.

In Kansas, he also oversaw the redevelopment of downtown Manhattan, where a mall, the Manhattan Town Center, was successfully integrated with the rest of downtown.

Foerster returned to Troy in March 2004 for a talk in downtown Troy entitled “We Are What We Keep: More Architecture Worth Saving.”

In a press release announcing Foerster’s talk, one RPI official described his contributions to the city.

“Bernd’s work saved more than blocks of buildings in Troy. It preserved an urban lifestyle that is now so valued it is being replicated in new urbanist developments all over the country. We have the real thing and it is the basis for Troy’s economic renaissance today,” said Barbara L. Nelson, who at the time was project manager of campus planning and facilities design at RPI. She added that his preservation work is “proof that individuals can galvanize a community and that communities can shape their future.”

On Thursday, RPI issued the following statement:

“Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute joins many others in offering condolences to the family of Dean Bernd Foerster. His contributions here — to our students, to the Institute, and to the region — will always be recalled with great fondness. From his time here as a graduate student until he left after serving as acting dean of the School of Architecture, he made tremendous contributions to the field of architecture. Through his research, teaching, leadership and books, Dean Foerster touched many students and colleagues with his special gifts. We note his passing with great sorrow.”